Harvard public
leadership professor, Barbara Kellerman argues that the dark side of
leadership--from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty--is not an
aberration, rather, she insists, bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is
insidious and followers like Olasunkanmi AbdulKadir enables and abets these
kinds of leaders.

If many
political office holders that served the former Kwara state government under
Bukola Saraki and the ones currently serving under AbdulFatah Ahmed are Frankenstein
monsters – we all share in the blame. Many of their followers and the rest of
the population in Kwara state have indulged this corrupt hegemony and allowed
them to become tyrants that listen to no one and do as they please. From
King Henry VIII of England to General Sani Abacha, the history of politics and
enterprise is filled with destructive leaders who harm their people and their
organizations.

Olasunkanmi
AbdulKadir in advancing the arguments for continuity came up short in the task
that Saraki, Ahmed and the rest of the APC crew assigned him. In his futile
attempt to revamp the bad image of the Ahmed administration amongst the Kwara
electorate,
he listed four areas of intervention where the Ahmed administration has
"performed" in his estimation.

1. The five renovated general hospitals

2. The phantom jobs that was created for
young unemployed graduates, this was put at 10,200

3. School renovation

4. International vocation centre

Now let's
carefully examine these four interventionist programs:

1. The five renovated general hospitals:
The Kwara Restoration Project carried out an investigation on
the five general hospitals and our findings revealed that the five hospitals
renovated were over invoiced and grossly inflated. We also discovered that for
purposes of
commissioning, the Kwara state government moved diagnostic equipments from the
Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre to the Ilorin General Hospital and they have
since returned them and left the hospital to grapple with the attendant
consequences. Our interactions with the personnel also revealed that most of
the medical personnel were redeployed from medical facilities that were
hitherto insufficiently staffed from across the state. This latter action has
resulted in enormous hardship on the patients and staff of the affected
facilities while also insufficient for the needs of the Ilorin General
Hospital. This is a lose – lose situation for all the parties concerned.

In all, the general hospital project is another sham project
in a long list of many from the annals of the Bukola/Fatahi Ahmed led Kwara
state government.

2. The phantom jobs that was created for
young unemployed graduates, this was put at 10, 2001:
Before now, the Kwara Restoration Project asked the Senior
Special Assistant to the Governor, Muyideen Akorede, to furnish Kwarans with
the list of beneficiaries and their designations. Four weeks and still
counting, he has not risen up to the challenge. Kwarans would like to know the
names, local government areas, and designation of the beneficiaries. Perhaps,
Olasunkami can use his influence in the Kwara state government to furnish
Kwarans these details since it is apparent that the SSA on media is not up to
task and has less clout.

3. School renovation:
Our investigation revealed that instead of the 897 million
Naira that was said to be the funds expended on classroom renovation, the sum
of 300 million Naira was the actual funds spent and the difference of 597
million allegedly pocketed. This much we gathered from a member of the state
executive council sympathetic to our cause.

Despite the huge differentials from the actual funds
appropriated and collected and the funds that was eventually expended, our
investigation showed that there is no commensurate renovation of classrooms
across Kwara state that reflected even the 300 million. And yet, most of the
public schools in Kwara are without standard laboratories while some do not
even have any. Many are without toilets, no geographical gardens and there is a
widespread shortage of essential manpower in the core subjects, etc.

4. International vocation centre:
Ordinarily, a vocation centre is a welcome development and
its proper execution would have been the only signature achievement of the
Ahmed administration, but so far, it has been improperly managed from
inception. Feelers from inside the Kwara state government revealed that right
from inception, some policy experts advised the Ahmed administration to embark
on vocational studies with a clear head. One of the policy advices given was
for the government to establish smaller vocational centres across the sixteen
local government areas; equip and have them certified by a licensing body. The
government was also advised to use existing facilities and human resources to
reduce overhead while investing in modern equipments for the centres.

Presently, the international vocational centre located at
Ajasse Ipo has gulped over 1.6 billion Naira in construction alone. We are
aware that the government is having sleepless nights on how to properly staff
the centre and purchase equipment. Because this otherwise laudable initiative
was not properly thought out, it is likely that it may end up as a white
elephant project with no long term sustainability.

I have explained all of the above to demonstrate that Governor
Ahmed like Bukola Saraki before him is an inefficient leader enabled by
dogmatic followership with herd mentality.